Elevator and Parking Garage Rules

Hat tip to Therese for this article on The Ten Commandments of Elevator Manners. Here are a few commandments worth mentioning:

Thou shalt not pass gas.

Thou shalt not press button for wrong floor without acting appropriately ashamed as elevator stops and doors open then shut without anyone leaving.

Thou shall hold the door for others running to catch the carriage. A plague on those who watch idly by as they slide shut in someone’s face.

However, thou shalt not hold the door indefinitely and delay travel for other passengers.

Thou shall wait for empty carriage if thou is sick.

Thou shalt not carry on personal conversations, be they person-to-person or via cellular phone. Thine elevator is not thine phone booth.

I love rules like these because they give us a peek into the inane and humorous side of "living by the rules". These rules reminded me of my parking garage rules:

For years I had thought of myself, in a Christian sense, as a ‘Charismatic’ – both in theology and in practice. I considered myself to be this ‘free’ person. I distained legalism and specifically the word ‘religious’ because I identified myself as a ‘Spirit-filled’ person … someone who was led by the Holy Spirit certainly could not be legalistic.

It was like yesterday, I was entering the parking garage at work … I became aware of the fact that I had ‘parking garage rules’ … I had a logic scheme by which I chose a parking spot … I was crushed by the idea that ‘possibly’ … ‘maybe’ … I wasn’t led by the Spirit in this part of my life … in hindsight it is pretty amusing but it was just the beginning of my awakening.

Pretty funny how God can get our attention. It is always good to remember that the Law kills but the Spirit gives life!